“When Craig Venter announced in 2000 that he had mapped the human genome - the genetic material that uniquely identifies each individual - it was the sort of blockbuster announcement that comes once in a generation, and it established Venter as one of the most influential scientists on the planet.

“For the first time now we can actually design life in a computer, make the DNA software and create new life forms that have never existed before.”

- Craig Venter

Since then, in addition to further research on the genome, Venter has sailed the world, exploring new life forms and applying this knowledge to another pursuit heretofore dreamed of only in science fiction: the creation of life itself in a laboratory, which he accomplished in 2010…“Aljazeera